Drosophila Aging Core: Scott Pletcher, Director The DAC will serve the needs of three broad classes of users. (1) It will provide advice, technical assistance, and specialized facilities to Drosophila experts new to aging research. Such a user might, for example, be an expert on Drosophila development or muscle biology or circadian rhythmicity who wishes to evaluate mutants or drugs of interest in the context of aging. (2) It will tutor and collaborate with experienced biogerontologists, new to work on flies, who now wish to exploit the genetic potential of Drosophila to test molecular hypotheses or screen for mutants or drugs with specific properties of interest. (3) It will provide highly specialized protocols and equipment to support sophisticated studies of aging flies that would be difficult to conduct in less sophisticated facilities. The DAC will in particular support collaborations that depend on nutrient and odor manipulations, high throughput functional assays, and tests for organ-specific function that few individual laboratories can muster but that are appropriate for a national or regional resource.